Tuesday, January 27, 2015

My Christmas card from Randall included a note that he expected more content from me for the blog, even though I live out in Utah, so here it goes.

Katy and I drove home for Christmas. In all, we were gone for thirteen days, visited ten states and drove through seven state capitals. We put about 4,000 miles on Katy's car. We drove first to Kentucky to see my parents and family, then to Rolla, Missouri to spend time with her family. On the 27th, I spend the day in St. Louis and visited old friends at the Museum of Transportation. Things are going well there. It was rainy that day, so I only managed to get this one photo of Norfolk & Western 2156. It's a Y-6a class 2-8-8-2 that is being prepped for a long term loan to the Virginia Museum of Transportation. I understand the work is complete, just waiting to be moved.

We took different routings on the outbound and inbound trips. Leaving Salt Lake City, we took I-80 to Omaha where we overnighted with some friends. We then drove to Kentucky via Kansas City, St. Louis and Louisville. On the return trip, we took I-70, overnighting in Denver. Here, on January 2, the last day of the trip we spot Amtrak train # 6, the eastbound California Zephyr in Glenwood Canyon. Coming back, we encountered quite a bit of snow in Colorado. I don't know what they put on the roads there, but by the time we arrived in Green River, Utah, the car looked like it had been used in a Mad Max movie. I had to wash the headlights off at the last gas stop. Seeing the CZ inspired me to seek alternate transportation for my upcoming trip to Denver, which will be covered in another forthcoming post.

In other news, this past Saturday I attended a makeup annual rules review/exam at the Heber Valley Railroad. Back in December, I received the sign-off on my paperwork that I could be a conductor after the trainmaster shadowed me for a trip, run around and all. I am now fully certified as a Conductor at the Heber Valley Railroad. Here's my certification card. Honestly, they also took a picture of me smiling as well, but for some reason chose to use this one.

Don't despair, I have some more posts lined up with other railroad related activities that are occurring with me out here in Utah.

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About This Site

The "Hicks Locomotive and Car Works" banner at the top is taken from original artwork of the company, which was in business from 1897 to 1911. The picture behind it shows the four restored CA&E wood cars at the Museum, starting with #309, which was built by the Hicks Locomotive and Car Works in 1907.

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